Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, the author of "The Satanic Verses," was brutally attacked just as he was about to speak to an audience at the Chautauqua Institution.

Author Salman Rushdie, who suffered years of Islamist death threats after writing The Satanic Verses, has been attacked on stage in New York state.

The interviewer who was also on stage, Henry Reese, suffered a minor head injury. His next novel, Victory City, is due to be published in February 2023. A year after the book's release, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution. "The news is not good. Rushdie was initially given medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience at the Chautauqua Institution, then airlifted to a local trauma centre where he had surgery, police said. Matar stabbed Rushdie at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, police said.

Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday (local time) by ...

The Chautauqua Institution, about 89km southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie's 1988 novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than US$3 million for anyone who kills him. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer had been put on a ventilator, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. But it became evident in a few seconds" that it wasn't, she said. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organisation that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. State police Major Eugene Staniszewski said the motive for the stabbing was unclear.

He was alive and in surgery, according to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie. A man rushed to the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and attacked Rushdie (75) on ...

"The worst thing Chautauqua could do is back away from its mission in light of this tragedy, and I don't think Mr. Rushdie would want that either." "I felt like we needed to have more protection there because Salman Rushdie is not a usual writer," said Anour Rahmani, an Algerian writer and human rights activist who was also in the audience. The Iranian government said in 1998 it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years. Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to the United Kingdom, has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. Some Muslims said the book contained blasphemous passages. A doctor in the audience helped tend to Rushdie while emergency services arrived, police said. "The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email.

Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage ...

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The author, 75, has suffered years of Islamist death threats since writing The Satanic Verses.

His next novel, Victory City, is due to be published in February 2023. Mr Reese is the co-founder of a non-profit that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. A year after the book's release, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie's execution. He was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, by helicopter. That fatwa has never formally been rescinded. Mr Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck, and at least once in the abdomen.

He was apparently stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture.

The Chautauqua Institution has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday (local time) and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. State police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said the motive for the stabbing was unclear.

Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday (local time) ...

The Chautauqua Institution, about 89km southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie's 1988 novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than US$3 million for anyone who kills him. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer had been put on a ventilator, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. But it became evident in a few seconds" that it wasn't, she said. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organisation that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. State police Major Eugene Staniszewski said the motive for the stabbing was unclear.

Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New ...

That year, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced.

Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran ...

The Chautauqua Institution has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday (local time) and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery.

US police confirm Rushdie suffered an 'apparent stab wound' to the neck but say his condition is not yet known.

The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the reward for Rushdie from $2.8m to $3.3m. The UK knighted him in 2007, which sparked protests in several countries in the Muslim world. An Associated Press news agency reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. “The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. “Nobody knew what to do.

The Satanic Verses author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at an event in New York state.

"Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. There has been no reaction from the Iranian government to Mr Rushdie's stabbing. Mr Reese is the co-founder of a non-profit organisation that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. A doctor in the audience gave Mr Rushdie first aid. A year after the book's release, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie's execution. He was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, by helicopter.

His agent says the writer has a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and is likely to lose an eye.

The Chautauqua Institution has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday (local time) and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery.

The Unites States man arrested for stabbing infamous author Salman Rushdie reportedly had sympathies towards the Iranian government that had called for the ...

We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced." "Just witnessed the horrific assassination attempt on #SalmanRushdie's life. He has lived in the US since 2000, and he was named a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in 2015. "While we do not know the origins or motives of this attack, all those around the world who have met words with violence or called for the same are culpable for legitimatising this assault on a writer while he was engaged in his essential work of connecting to readers. "PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was reportedly stabbed multiple times while on stage speaking at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York," she said in the statement. "Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. Iran and Pakistan banned the book after uproar and he was issued a fatwa – a death sentence – by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. The author was taken or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained. Rushdie – who has a $US3 million ($4.6 million) bounty on his head – was about to deliver a speech at the CHQ 2022 event when he was attacked on stage on Friday, according to police and witnesses. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged." Providing an update on his condition following the attack, Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, revealed he had been put on a ventilator and would "likely" lose an eye. The author is now on a ventilator and unable to speak, according to his agent.

Praise for attack on writer targeted by decades-old fatwa comes as some fear incident will leave Iran more isolated.

“As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. “The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid,” Khamenei said in 1989. Staffers there declined to immediately comment, referring questions to an official not in the office. Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point of mentioning a man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. “This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities.” “The news is not good.

'Satanic Verses' author may lose one eye as a result of Friday's assault, his agent says.

“Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. As a result of the stabbing, “the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was … damaged,” Wylie said. On Saturday French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Rushdie as a person who had “embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism,” adding the author’s “fight is our fight; it is universal.”

sir Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing, has been stabbed in the ...

"The worst thing Chautauqua could do is back away from its mission in light of this tragedy, and I don't think Mr. Rushdie would want that either." "I felt like we needed to have more protection there because Salman Rushdie is not a usual writer," said Anour Rahmani, an Algerian writer and human rights activist who was also in the audience. The Iranian government said in 1998 it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years. Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to the United Kingdom, has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. Some Muslims said the book contained blasphemous passages. A doctor in the audience helped tend to Rushdie while emergency services arrived, police said. "The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email.

Rushdie also has a damaged liver and severed nerves in his arm, his agent has confirmed, as authorities investigate the New York attack.

The Chautauqua Institution, about 89km southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. “Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,” McEwan said in a statement. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering millions of dollars to anyone who killed him. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. Matar was born a decade after The Satanic Verses first was published. An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. It was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Police said the motive for the Friday attack was unclear. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.

Suspect, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey remanded without bail over alleged attack on author in New York.

A helicopter crew flew Rushdie to a hospital in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery. He suffered a relatively minor facial wound during the attack. The crime, under New York law, can carry up to 25 years in prison upon conviction. Rushdie suffered three stab wounds to the right front of his neck, another four to his stomach, one each to his right eye and chest, and a cut to his right thigh, Schmidt said on Saturday. Investigators had earlier booked Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, with one count of attempted second-degree murder in Rushdie’s stabbing and one count of second-degree assault on a man who shared a stage with the author at the time of the attack on Friday, according to a statement from authorities. The man suspected of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in western New York pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.

After the author Salman Rushdie was stabbed on Friday at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, state and federal investigators were trying to ...

The novel’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times in 1993 outside his home in Oslo and was seriously injured. A spokeswoman for a hospital in Erie, Pa., where Mr. Rushdie is being treated, said it would not provide information on patient conditions. A woman in a gray Jeep Rubicon in the driveway kept her windows up, waving off reporters as she sped away. In court, prosecutors said that the attack on the author was premeditated and targeted. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran after its 1979 revolution, issued an edict known as a fatwa on Feb. 14, 1989. When Mr. Matar, a United States citizen, was arrested, he was carrying two fake IDs, according to a law enforcement official. People started to congregate in the aisles. Mr. Rushdie, who had been living relatively openly after years of a semi-clandestine existence, had just taken a seat to give a talk when a man attacked him. A video on TikTok that was subsequently taken down showed the chaotic scene moments after the attacker had jumped onto the stage at the normally placid institution. Security at the Chautauqua Institution is minimal. A crowd of people immediately rushed to where the author lay on the stage to offer aid. Nathaniel Barone, a public defender, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Hadi Matar, 24, has appeared in court and has been remanded without bail, the prosecutor said. Matar ran onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer ...

There has been no reaction from the Iranian government to Rushdie's stabbing. He has also continued to write, with his next work due out in 2023. Reese is the co-founder of a non-profit organisation that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. A year after the book's release, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution. The IRGC is a major military and political force in Iran - however, no link has been definitively established. Later on Saturday, President Joe Biden said in a statement that he was "shocked and saddened" by the "vicious attack".

Rushdie may lose an eye after the attack, and also has a damaged liver and severed nerves in his arm, his agent has confirmed, as a man pleads not guilty to ...

The Chautauqua Institution, about 89km southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. “Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,” McEwan said in a statement. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering millions of dollars to anyone who killed him. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn’t focused on the writer. An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. It was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.

Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked this week. He has been the subject of death threats since his book The Satanic Verses was ...

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Aug 13 (Reuters) - Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized on Saturday with serious injuries a day after he was repeatedly stabbed at a public ...

Ali Tehfe, mayor of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, said Matar was the son of a man from the town. In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill the author and anyone involved in the book's publication for blasphemy. Matar was born in California and recently moved to New Jersey, the NBC New York report said, adding that he had a fake driver's license on him. There was no visible police presence on Saturday at the house, a two-story brick-and-mortar home in a largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood. Rushdie was stabbed 10 times, prosecutors said during Matar's arraignment, according to the New York Times. In a statement on Saturday, President Joe Biden commended the "universal ideals" that Rushdie and his work embody.

Jill and I were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie yesterday in New York. We, together with all Americans and.

Salman Rushdie—with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced—stands for essential, universal ideals. Jill and I were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie yesterday in New York. We, together with all Americans and people around the world, are praying for his health and recovery. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression.

Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a "preplanned" crime ...

He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. He said during a New York talk that year that terrorism was the art of fear. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. But afterwards, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn't tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than US$3 million on his head. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks, and most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage for his longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. These are the building blocks of any free and open society." Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.

The terrorist assault on Salman Rushdie on Friday morning, in western New York, was triply horrific to contemplate. First in its sheer brutality and cruelty ...

(Nor was he unwilling to be self-deprecatingly comic in order to assist a social occasion; I recall him once doing a karaoke version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” at a party in London.) In the thirty years or so that I have known him—far from intimately but steadily and always pleasurably—I was always impressed by the effortless equanimity with which, in public at least, he dealt with his strange fate. Finally, if more locally, it was horrific because it had seemed to those who knew him that the fatwa had faded in significance and threat, that it had become the subject for retrospective memoir, as in his fine one, “ Joseph Anton,” and even for actual comedy. This is a doubly despicable viewpoint, not only because there was no actual insult offered but also because the right to be insulting about other people’s religions—or their absence of one—is a fundamental right, part of the inheritance of the human spirit. What makes the story so tragic, and the comic-television moment so illustrative of his nature, is that Salman, to those who knew him—no, know him—as a friend, was the most amiable of men, the least narrowly contentious, the most rational and reasonable guy they would ever meet. He was a writer, with a writer’s pastimes and a writer’s rights. For the next decade, Rushdie was under protection and, though far from disappearing from the world—for the most part, he went where he wanted—it was always under guard.

Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk on Sunday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in ...

Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said Friday evening (local time). He was likely to lose the injured eye. As of Saturday afternoon (local time), the novel ranked number 13 on Amazon.com. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.

Author seriously injured in New York stabbing remains in hospital, as Joe Biden praises his courage and suspect denies attempted murder.

A motive for the attack appears to be unclear. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked No 13 on Amazon.com. Iran’s theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie’s courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression,” the president said in a statement. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “strongly” condemned the attack on Saturday night.

An attorney for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment in western New York. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white ...

He said during a New York talk that year that terrorism was the art of fear. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection programme, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. But afterwards, some longtime visitors to the centre questioned why there wasn't tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks, and most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage for his longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye. These are the building blocks of any free and open society." Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect.

The novelist remains hospitalised with serious injuries, but is now off the ventilator and able to talk, says his agent.

In a statement on Saturday, President Joe Biden commended the “universal ideals” that Rushdie and his work embody. He was likely to lose the injured eye. The novelist suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said on Friday evening. Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him on Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat centre, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a “preplanned” crime. Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is now able to talk, a friend and his agent said, a day after the acclaimed novelist was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in New York. Rushdie, 75, remained hospitalised with serious injuries on Saturday, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking)”.

The Satanic Verses author was repeatedly stabbed while on stage at a US literary event on Friday.

Mr Rushdie was born in Bombay, India in 1947. Many Muslims reacted with fury to it, arguing that the portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad was a grave insult to their faith. Henry Reese, who had been due to interview Mr Rushdie at the event, suffered a minor head injury.

"The Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed in upstate New York.

He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. But afterward some longtime visitors to the Chautauqua Institution questioned why there wasn't tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked No. 13 on Amazon.com. It looked like it was the worst day of his life," Boyle said. After nine years of seclusion, Rushdie cautiously resumed more public appearances. "The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. He said Matar resisted attempts by him and others to welcome and engage him. Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. "His resources don't matter to me. These are the building blocks of any free and open society." Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety.

Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked this week. He has been the subject of death threats since his book The Satanic Verses was ...

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The author would like to be known for more than the Satanic Verses controversy. We can do something about that.

Ground ends, by the way, with a suddenly resonant observation by the narrator: “The mayhem continues, I don’t deny it, but we’re capable also of this.” Published in 1999, the novel is a funny and violent and demanding reworking of the myth of Orpheus featuring two rock-and-roll stars. We can more readily demonstrate our solidarity with him and advance the principles he embodies by committing to literary works bold and ambitious enough to make the very acts of writing, publishing, and reading once more daringly world-changing, even, if must be, dangerous. Indeed, the criticism voiced by some about a possible lapse of security at Chautauqua is at odds with Rushdie’s sense of his work and himself. Like other interlocutors of his around the world, I suspect, I received two requests from him before the events we did together: first, that if security had to be present, then it should not be a visible or dominant presence; second, that whatever we were to talk about when it was showtime, please let it be something other than the fatwa. Of course I would appear onstage with Rushdie: My own commitments to freedom of expression and to the higher goods of literature matter more to me than any concern for my personal safety—and appearing with Rushdie, of all people, was about as clear and assured a sign of this as one could give. They must negotiate the publishing industry’s sensitivity readers, then hope to find actual readers, and still hold onto an idea of themselves as artists rather than algorithmically regulated identarian protagonists (or antagonists). Lamenting all of that is, admittedly, easier than following Rushdie’s model. And it elicited comments of outrage and sympathy from a spectrum of public figures—in the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the novelist Ian McEwan; in the U.S., New York Governor Kathy Hochul and PEN America President Ayad Akhtar. This is a rare chorus. Many of my midwestern in-laws—not your typical Salman Rushdie readers—knew all about him, his famous book, and what had happened after its publication. And more than three decades have passed since Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, a religious edict, calling for Rushdie’s death because of the novelist’s representations of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam. Dire enough consequences followed in the fatwa’s early years: Deadly riots and bookstore bombings occurred around the world; several of Rushdie’s publishers and translators were attacked, including the Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who was stabbed to death. He has shown punchy humor and great élan in recent appearances—such as his cameo in a 2017 episode of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, a send-up of the fatwa itself. He has wounds to his neck, stomach, and liver; severed nerves in one of his arms; and, according to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, will probably lose an eye.

He had lived under the threat of the fatwa for decades. Even with the Iranian government's retreat from the death sentence in 1998, he could never be sure that ...

“The fate of the book affected the future of free inquiry,” he wrote, “without which there would be no publishing as we knew it, but also, by extension, no civil society as we knew it.” It was the beginning of the retreat from freedom of expression – self-censorship replaced tolerance as desirable behaviour in a society where free speech was still supposed to be a benchmark for human rights. Even with the Iranian government’s retreat from the death sentence in 1998, he could never be sure that a lone individual would not attempt to kill him.